This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Ahdela Akoojee, left, and Salah Abderrahman, keep a smile ready for customers at their restaurant, Somethin' 2 Talk About, even while keeping up a fast that, in this summer Ramadan, runs from about 4:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day. (Aaron Harris / For the Toronto Star)

By Sarah-Taïssir BencharifStaff Reporter

Tues., July 24, 2012

You’d think the customers at Somethin’ 2 Talk About are the ones fasting.

They look so hungry, eager to eat.

But the people fasting for the month of Ramadan are the ones preparing the food.

Salah Abderrahman and his wife Ahdela Akoojee, both 45, greet the last-minute customers rushing into their little family-owned restaurant. Abderrahman, the chef, tends a home-made burger sizzling on the griddle.

His customer, Kelly Shaw, is hungry.

Article Continued Below

Shaw knows both Abderrahman and Akoojee haven’t had anything to eat or drink since sunrise, just after 4 a.m.

She admires their ability to be surrounded by tempting treats, waiting until nearly 9 p.m., when the sun sets, to break their fast.

“I tried (fasting) once before and it’s hard,” says Shaw. “It takes a lot of discipline.”

The scents and sight of their food don’t faze Abderrahman and Akoojee. If anything, thirst is the hardest, they say, as they are on their feet all day in a warm kitchen. The air-conditioner is moody, cooling better on some days than others. They close the restaurant an hour earlier than usual during Ramadan, to pace themselves.

Feeling a bit hungry from fasting motivates the couple to make their food even tastier. Fasting heightens their senses, says Akoojee. “You want everything to taste even better.”

When you’re in the restaurant industry, observing Ramadan requires an extra dash of creativity.

For one thing, Abderrahman can’t properly sample his creations. He says he tastes his food on the tip of his tongue, to ensure spices are right, for instance, and then spits it out.

“You can’t give people something they can’t eat,” says his wife.

Another thing is that a fair proportion of the clientele is also fasting. Abderrahman says the restaurant loses about 30 per cent of its business during Ramadan, but the remaining customers keep them busy.

The couple has built a community around their distinct Gerrard St. West restaurant with the yellow facade. They know their customers by first name. Some of them, like Jessica Dubelaar, have been coming for almost as long as the restaurant’s been open, which is 15 years.

“I can really feel for them,” says Dubelaar of the couple’s fast, after ordering her tandoori chicken on a Greek salad. “They still always have smiles on their faces when you’re greeted.”

The restaurant is beloved by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Muslims especially appreciate the availability of halal meats, says Abderrahman. That’s part of the reason he opened the restaurant — as well as avoiding having to work in restaurants that prepare pork, which is forbidden in Islam.

“It wasn’t ideal for us,” says Abderrahman, who was also inspired by the bakeries his father operated back in Kuwait.

The couple’s relationship was founded on the same sense of community they foster in their restaurant. Akoojee, whose family fled South Africa’s apartheid era in 1980, met her now-husband through her mother, who owned a South African restaurant where Abderrahman, his cousin and a friend used to eat. The mother learned Abderrahman, a recent immigrant, didn’t have much family here. So she invited the three young men over for dinner at their home.

The couple met there, married and today have three children.

Together, they have fashioned a menu as culturally diverse as they are, with a mix of Mediterranean and South African influences. Every six months or so, they change it up. Akoojee says their customers often ask them to bring back old favourites.

The couple happily obliges.

“We love our customers,” says Akoojee.

Delivered dailyThe Morning Headlines Newsletter

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com